


It's time to bring this ship into the shore

by buckybuck (thestarsthesea)



Series: there will be history between us two; [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble Collection, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Pre-Slash, mentions of stony and a very brief mention of stucky, or- maybe not LOVE but Like definitely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 12:31:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17808002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsthesea/pseuds/buckybuck
Summary: Tony’s smiling at him, his eyes crinkling in the corners in that gentle way that means he’s actually happy and means it, and Bucky has to tramp down the urge to reach out and trace the wrinkles with his thumb.





	It's time to bring this ship into the shore

*~**~*

“What,” Bucky asks, coming to an abrupt halt only a few steps into the workshop, his eyes trained on the blown-up image being projected smack-dab in the middle of the room. “is that?”

Tony and Peter both turn at the sound of his voice, and Bucky gets a little distracted at the way the soft blue lights reflect and dance in Tony’s brown eyes, the way they cast shadows on his face to bring out the highness of his cheekbones and the oddly appealing straightness of his nose. He doesn’t notice if Peter says anything, but his feet start moving forward again, bringing him to the space between the two of them, and it’s only when he’s closer and the picture catches his eye again does he remember it at all. Tony kind of has that effect on people.

Or, he does Bucky, anyway.

Tony’s smiling at him, his eyes crinkling in the corners in that gentle way that means he’s actually happy and means it, and Bucky has to tramp down the urge to reach out and trace the wrinkles with his thumb. “That, my frosty friend, is me and your buddy Steve engaged in a loving and passionate lip-lock. Apparently right after that alien invasion a few months back, brought on by my _near death experience_ \- which I didn’t have, by the way- and Capsicle just not being able to _hold it in anymore_.”

Bucky just stares at him as his eyebrows climb slowly up his forehead. There’s an awkward little _ahem_ from his right that has him turning his attention to Peter, who, once he has it, looks abashed and apologetic.

“It’s fanart, Mr. Barnes.”

“Yeah, _Mister_ Barnes, it’s fanart!” Tony butts in, his grand gesturing managing to make the image even larger. “Just a nice drawing of me and your best pal Steve playing tonsil hockey.”

He stares blankly at the almost too realistic Steve kissing the equally almost too realistic Tony with such fervor it apparently requires a partial dip, and feels his lips tug into a frown. “Why is it _here_?”

“Petey found it on twitter and let slip so I made him show me.” For a moment they all stare at the photo in silence. “Apparently this stuff is everywhere. They really like me and Steve. We’re a, what did you call it, Pete? Oh yeah, a Ship.”

Bucky’s eyes linger on the way Steve’s hand cradles Tony’s jaw like he’s something precious, something to touched with care.

Like the way Bucky wants to do so badly.

Crossing his arms, he huffs, slouching a little. He's, admittedly, totally pouting. “Why _Steve_?”

Tony scoffs. “Why not Steve?” He turns to Bucky, no doubt thinking Bucky’s somehow taken offense with _him_ and is ready to argue about it, but visibly pulls up short at Bucky’s glower. “Oh my god,” Tony chokes, “are you _jealous_? Please don’t tell me you have some sort of tragic, unrequited, long burning flame for Steve because I will actually _lose my shit_ here, Barnes. That is Too Much.”

Bucky can actually _feel_ his whole being rejecting the images of he and Steve that Tony’s words are trying to conjure up in his brain. He lets out an involuntary gurgling sound. “Doll, please shut up before I hurl all over your shiny workshop, of course I’m not jealous of _you_.”

The room falls unusually silent, Tony looking at him with that calculating gaze of his as Bucky’s mind promptly goes offline at what his tone of voice might have given away.

“I’m just gonna-” Bucky swivels to watch Peter quickly grab his notebooks and hastily shove them into his bag, a little desperate to distract himself from having to watch Tony look at him like he’s a particularly tantalising puzzle. Peter glances back at him as the doors to the workshop slide open for him, giving Bucky an awkward and unsure little thumbs up, and that leaves him to wonder how fucking obvious he apparently is about his crush if even the oblivious little spiderling is aware of it.

“So,” Bucky turns at the sound of Tony’s voice, back to his bright calculating eyes and whip-smart brain. “You’re not jealous of _me_ , huh?”

Bucky figures he’s got two options here; he can deflect, distract Tony enough he can eventually slink away before Tony remembers this conversation ever happened, or he can suck it up and just let Tony pull him along however he wants and see where it takes him.

Maybe he’s tired of keeping up with this stupid cowardly dance he’s doing, or maybe he’s had too much caffeine today, who knows, but he doesn’t distract Tony. Instead, he pulls himself up onto the workbench where Peter was perched, glances at Tony, and shrugs. “Nah, got nothin’ to be jealous of.”

“But, you are jealous of something.”

The corner of Bucky’s mouth ticks up in a gentle smirk. “There’s only two people in the photo, Stark, can’t be too hard to figure out for a smart guy like you.” 

A pregnant pause swells before-

“You’re jealous of _Steve_?” Tony practically shouts into the quiet.

The incredulity colouring Tony’s voice and making his eyes wide and his jaw slack is almost enough to make Bucky laugh, but he doesn’t think it would go over well considering the present conversation, he can’t stop himself from smiling, though.

“You do realise he’s kissing _me_ there, right?” he asks.

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Yes, Tony, I’m aware that it’s you. Have you really never noticed how much I like you?”

Tony blinks at him, opening his mouth to speak, but pauses, and after a moment his mouth closes with the clack of his teeth. He looks away, sheepish. “Being observant of other people’s feelings has never been one of my strong suits.”

Humming, Bucky concedes Tony’s point with a nod of his head. “You are much better with machines than people, sweetheart.”

The room falls into silence again, or well, silence is relative in the workshop, but they grow quiet, both of them having turned to look at the fanart once more.

“Well,” Tony starts after a few minutes, “this is a very unexpected thing to find out on a wednesday afternoon, I gotta say.”

Bucky slips off the metal table he’s been sitting on, abruptly antsy to make a respectful and hasty retreat. “Look, Tony, it doesn’t have to mean anything. You didn’t notice before, and I’m sure you can forget about it now that you know. I promise it won’t get to, what did you say earlier? _Tragic, unrequited, long burning flame_ levels, so just. Just forget all about it, okay?”

He moves to leave, his heart pounding an embarrassing rhythm against his sternum. Why the fuck did he say anything? Everything was fine, he was perfectly fine with what Tony gave him and now he’s probably fucked all that up.

“Hey, wait!” Bucky stops, turns enough to eye Tony over his shoulder, enough to show he’s paying attention. “Look, you might have been, expressing interest or whatever, and I may have missed it, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t, you know, expressing some of my own. I just, I do it differently, when I actually mean it.”

Bucky blinks, moves so he’s facing Tony again. It maybe should have been obvious, that Tony doesn’t flirt like normal people. Bucky’s seen him at enough functions, or hell, just around other unfamiliar people, that he knows that Tony flirts like it’s a twisted sort of armour to deflect anyone’s attempts to get too close. A front to throw them off from the real Tony Stark.

But, now that Bucky’s aware, now that he’s thinking about it, Tony treats him differently than anyone else in the tower. He never turns Bucky away from the workshop, (mostly) always listens when Bucky tells him it’s time to eat, time for bed, is usually the one to sit next to him at dinner or during movie nights, has quiet moments with him that Bucky’s never seen him have with anyone else, and he hasn’t thrown any casual flirtatious lines Bucky’s way in months. And that should really have been the most telling thing, if Bucky had been paying proper attention. The way Tony flirts with strangers and the way he flirts with his friends are two separate things, but in the end he’s still flirting, with Steve, with Natasha, Pepper and Happy. But not Bucky. Not for a while.

Suddenly Bucky doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. All his negative thoughts have quietly melted away and left a shaky nervousness in their wake. He clears his throat and glances down like the awkward hopeless case he’s turned into. In this moment, he’d give his right arm to have half the charm he's told the Bucky from the 40s had.

He swallows down as many of the nerves as he can. “So.”

“So.” Tony returns. Bucky looks up just in time to see the soft wonder in Tony’s dancing eyes. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

*~**~*

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) I've written another thing for winteriron and actually managed to finish it! A miracle is occurring and I hope someone somewhere is taking note.  
> I've decided that in order to help myself improve the quality of my writing, and hopefully my ability to, like, Actually Write, I've decided to write drabbles based off one word prompts. A well meaning friend of mine sent me inktober prompt lists last year in hopes of motivating and inspiring me to write, and, well, I managed to write one thing that I only just posted a few weeks ago lol.  
> BUT! Now's the time. I'm going to write whatever first inspires me for each word, even if it takes me a few weeks like this one did. I want to finish each one, and I really hope I manage it by the end of the year. So possibly look forward to more if you like this or anything else I've written!
> 
> That being said, the word that inspired this fic was "ship". It's not my favourite thing, but it's a thing and in the end I'm proud I managed to make it.
> 
> Reminder: I'm still new to winteriron, and still tackling the mountain-sized task of writing Tony and BuckyandTony in a way that I feel does them justice, Hopefully, if winteriron remains my main muse this year, I'll get better at that too.
> 
> Business:  
> Title Credit: Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon. Oh I was so happy when I realised the lyrics fit Really Well for this fic lolol  
> Disclaimer: I am not claiming ownership of any recognisable character or place you see in this fic, only the order of the words.
> 
> I also don't have a beta, so any mistakes are my own fault, and I apologise for them right this moment!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy, sorry about the rambling AN, but that's just my MO at this point in life. Come complain about it to me on tumblr, or maybe give me word prompts, or even just come say hi. Whichever you want. http://buckybuck.tumblr.com  
> <333


End file.
